


A Sleepless Night

by loneliestcactus



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware, Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Secret Santa Fic, frenrey, frenry - Freeform, however that is spelled, joshua is here but for some reason there’s no tag for him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:55:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28209429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loneliestcactus/pseuds/loneliestcactus
Summary: Joshua won’t go to sleep, and Benrey shows up uninvited. He and Gordon try to get Joshua to bed, and find out who Gordon’s own son likes better.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman
Comments: 4
Kudos: 74





	A Sleepless Night

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY HOLIDAYS! this was a short little one shot fic i wrote for a secret santa in a friend’s server. it was alotta fun to write so i hope you enjoy....

"Get out of my apartment, Benrey."

Benrey didn't hesitate to push past Gordon with a wave of his hand, grinning as he stepped through the front door and stood defiantly in the center of Gordon's living room, "i wasn't even in your apartment yet, bro. calm down, please?"

Gordon turned to face Benrey with an audible, frustrated groan, "Well, now you're in my apartment."

"yeah. and now you can yell at me."

"Get the fuck out of my apartment."

"wh? huh?" Benrey vocalized, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets, lazily meeting Gordon's harsh stare, "i, uh, don't know what you're talking about."

Benrey could almost hear Gordon gritting his teeth while he closed the door behind him, running his prosthetic hand through his hair, "I— Okay look, I'm not in the mood, alright? I can never get you to fuckin' leave, so feel free to crash on the couch or whatever." He glanced over at the digital clock on the microwave's display, then rubbed his eyes, "It's ten at night, why did you show up to my apartment —  _ uninvited _ , I wanna add — at ten at night?"

"i dunno." Benrey shrugged, "tommy's at his dads and i was bored."

"So you came to bother me?"

"yeah." Benrey said with a frown, pupils dilating to block out the yellow, "josh said he took an overnight shift. i just wanted to game, man, and he left me..."

Rolling his eyes, Gordon turned down the short hallway with a snort, "Yeah, yeah. I don't wanna hear your sob story." 

Gordon was gone for a couple of seconds as Benrey made himself comfortable on the couch, almost immediately cocooning himself in the couple of blankets that were once neatly folded in a stack under the coffee table. Though, once Gordon returned, his baby held firmly in his arms — Josuha was babbling into his father’s shirt to no end — Benrey was already on his feet. For a second, his face held nothing but unabashed shock as he rocked back and forth in excitement, though it quickly faded in an attempt to continue upholding his facade of disinterest. He crashed back into the couch, pulling a blanket over his head, "little baby feetman? still looks a bit— "

"Don't curse, dude. And don't call him that." Gordon scowled at Benrey's smirk, "You've never met Josh, huh?"

Benrey dropped his head and slouched his shoulders, looking just about as miserable as he could, "nah. i, uh, barely come over. you always yell at me."

"The only reason I yell at you whenever you come over is because you  _ don't _ know how to be  _ normal _ about it — you're always phasing through my walls or whatever — or show up at the worst time possible. Like now, Benrey." Gordon pinched his brow and trailed his hand down his face with a sigh, "Joshie here doesn't want to go to bed tonight. I've been trying for hours."

Benrey wasn't usually one to help, but something about Gordon's forlorn, exhausted expression sparked that little soft spot inside of him, "'s late. he's gotta be a little tired. what if we, uh, tire him out more?"

"What? You're gonna give him the old run-around?"

"yeah. i don't know. we'll play a game or something." Benrey shrugged.

Gordon's hesitant hopeful smile quickly dropped from his face, back to the usual, tired defeat, "I— y'know what? I don't know what I expected. Benrey, I'm not letting my kid play  _ Heavenly Sword  _ with you or watch  _ Irate Gamer _ or whatever it is you do these days."

" _ Angry Video Game Nerd. _ idiot." Benrey spit back, "plus, that's not even what i was talking about."

“Yeah? What were you talking about?”

Again, Benrey shrugged, “what do you normally do to get him to go to beddy-bye?”

Gordon gestured at the piles of magazines and books sat on the table, none of them looking especially interesting to a toddler. “I don’t know. We read— well,  _ I _ read to him. Or we watch T.V.”

Benrey thumbed through the stacks —  _ Scientist’s Weekly, _ an old research paper from Gordon’s time at Black Mesa, newspapers...

_ Supremely _ boring.

Benrey gave Gordon a displeased side-eye, “these suck.”

Gordon had to stop himself from throwing a punch, clenching his fist at his side as Joshua played with the tangles in his hair, “Yeah, well, it’s not easy being a single father, alright Benrey? Can’t always have  _ Goodnight Moon. _ ” He sighed, “He’s usually good with those. Knocks him right out.”

“yeah. ‘cause they’re so  _ boring _ .” Benrey heckled, “i don’t think he likes you.”

“My own  _ kid? _ ” Gordon exclaimed, “What, you think he likes you better?!”

“maybe.”

It was quiet for a moment, aside from Joshua’s wailing — cocky smile meeting annoyed snarl — before Gordon huffed, placing down Joshua and taking a few steps back to leave a couple of feet between himself and Benrey, with Joshua in the center of them. He rested his hands on his thighs with a curt  _ slap _ , “Prove it. I’ll go first.”

“what’re you—“

Benrey was cut off by the sound of Gordon’s deep inhale, then a booming noise rising from his mouth. Benrey nearly jumped out of his skin, flinching back and snapping his head to meet Gordon’s eyes as he held that long, steady note. It sounded like a foghorn, and it’s volume could rival that of a real ship. Benrey half expected the glasses in the kitchen cabinets to shatter.

They’d be getting a noise complaint for sure.

The note continued, finally tapering out into silence at the end of what felt like hours of excruciating sound. Gordon panted, catching his breath, but that confident smile — a sliver of white teeth shining past grinning lips — was as visible as ever. The wide, panicked eyes adorning Benrey’s face only had a few seconds to recover before the apartment was shaken again by a near-identical sound; starting low, peaking, and tapering off at the end, though the volume was slightly lower. 

And it wasn’t coming from Gordon. Joshua, still sitting in the center, opened his mouth to emit the same sound as his father. It wasn’t as long, wasn’t as loud, but the pure surprise of it all was enough to have Benrey reeling like a cat.

If that smile was visible before, it was blinding now, Gordon’s cheeks rising to squint his eyes, glasses raising a bit off the bridge of his nose, “Like father, like son. Beat  _ that _ .”

Benrey gaped. He’d never heard anything like that, though now that Gordon knew it had such an effect on him, he expected to hear it  _ a lot _ more. He shook it off, sitting up and letting his face return to its neutral position, “‘mkay. ‘s a little impressive, gordon. but you’re not  _ me _ .”

Benrey took a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds with a playful, competitive glint in that void of ever-widening pupils, blocking out the bright yellow of his sclera. Then, he tilted his head back, letting the stream of colored Sweet Voice rise past that familiar smile — the one he only put on when he knew he had a chance to mess with Gordon, get on his last nerve again. He held a high note, reds fading into oranges and yellows until the room was illuminated in the soft glow of near-opaque spheres of rainbow light remaining stagnant in the air, unmoving. They looked like soap bubbles, though they didn't float like them, just stuck hovering in an arc around Benrey's head. 

Benrey waved a few over towards Joshua, letting them linger for a few moments as their light began to slowly dim. He popped them before they could disappear completely, each bubble bursting accompanied by a  _ pop _ mumbled by Benrey as the glowing residue rained down to dapple his and Joshua's skin.

It was quiet for a moment, Gordon staring with bated breath as the freckled dots of Sweet Voice lighting up his son's hair and skin like starlight began to fade, Benrey's eyes wide and expecting. Joshua didn't do much aside from curiously play with the spots of color as they faded. Gordon broke the silence with a satisfied huff as crossed his arms to glance at Benrey, a cocky smile growing on his lips, "You—"

Just as he thought he had Benrey beat, the room was filled with the sound of Joshua's laugh, loud and wailing as he flailed his arms and pounded the ground in a hysteric fit of giggles and belly laughs. He reached his arms out, little hands grasping the empty air in front of him with each and every begging "again!" that fell from his mouth in a stream of excited babbling. He pulled himself towards Benrey, drumming his hands on the man’s calf as he demanded more. 

Joshua didn't stop laughing. He laughed harder than Gordon had ever heard — somehow even  _ louder _ than he had when Grandpa Coomer came over the apartment last weekend and immediately knocked the breath out of Gordon with a well placed punch to the soft of his stomach — and the smile began to fall from Gordon's face, jaw dropping to the floor. He sat there for a long moment, taking in the events before him before his face twisted into a frustrated grimace at Benrey's shocked expression, "You fu— that's cheating, man!"

Benrey mimicked Gordon's body language with a mocking, pointed smile. He looked rather content with himself, and that only seemed to piss Gordon off  _ more _ , "i don't know, gordman. i think your baby might like me better."

Gordon stumbled with his words, "What? No! You just have cool alien powers, that's why Josh likes you so much." He bit back a laugh, "You're like a circus clown to the kid."

Benrey ignored the latter half of the statement, clasping his hands "... you think they're cool?" 

Gordon buried his head in his hands as Joshua's fit of laughter tapered out to an occasional giggle. He sighed, "Yeah, dude, your powers are cool. You're an alien, of course—" Gordon stopped himself in the middle of his sentence, catching Benrey's lazy but bashful grin, "I—  _ how _ did we get back to me complimenting you? How do we  _ always _ end up here?!"

Benrey shrugged, opening his mouth to tease Gordon again, only to be stopped when Gordon raised a warning finger. Gordon shook his head, "Benrey, I don't— Whatever, that's besides the point. What  _ matters _ is that my own  _ baby _ likes you better than he likes me!"

"yeah? maybe you should, uh, stop being so un-cool then."

“I can’t compete with an  _ alien!” _

Benrey blew a couple more bubbles, letting Joshua play with them before popping them himself, “maybe you should let me stick around then. your cool buddy benrey?”

Gordon paused for a second before bursting at the seams with laughter. He doubled over, watching Josuha crawl comfortably into Benrey’s lap like he’d known the man his whole life. Benrey’s expression only made him laugh harder: nervous beyond belief as Joshua rested his back against his chest to play with the bubbles. Gordon wiped the tears from his eyes, taking a deep breath after a final, contented sigh, “Yeah. Alright.” He agreed, “You okay with holding him while we watch some cartoons? Usually knocks him out pretty quick.”

Benrey looked down at his lap, catching Joshua’s eyes, who reciprocated with an excited smile. Benrey nodded, picking Joshua up and sliding back onto the couch. Gordon followed soon after. He sat down on the cushion next to Benrey and pulled a blanket over the three of them, propping up Joshua’s already drooping head. He clicked on the T.V. to whatever channel that was airing kid-friendly cartoons at this hour. The mind-numbing performance of the ABC’s and the high-pitched singing of the little animated animals dancing across the screen was a lullaby, even to Benrey and Gordon, who had already dozed off once or twice on their own. Benrey rested his head on Gordon’s side, pulling Joshua’s sleeping form closer to his body. Gordon sighed and wrapped an arm around the man’s shoulders.

They fell asleep. Together.

**Author's Note:**

> to anyone who sees this and reads my OTHER fic and is wondering where the next chapter is. i’m sorry it’s taking SO long. coming soon. ANYWAY! kisses thank you for reading


End file.
